Ro2026
| Ro2026 | |
|---|---|
| BibType | ARTICLE |
| Key | Ro2026 |
| Author(s) | Eunseok Ro, Hyunwoo Kim |
| Title | “What do you mean by…?”: A conversation analytic study of negotiating word choice in L2 writing consultations |
| Editor(s) | |
| Tag(s) | EMCA, Conversation analysis, Word choice, L2 writing, L2 |
| Publisher | |
| Year | 2026 |
| Language | English |
| City | |
| Month | |
| Journal | Linguistics and Education |
| Volume | 93 |
| Number | June 2026 |
| Pages | 101532 |
| URL | Link |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.linged.2026.101532 |
| ISBN | |
| Organization | |
| Institution | |
| School | |
| Type | |
| Edition | |
| Series | |
| Howpublished | |
| Book title | |
| Chapter | |
Abstract
Conversation analysis (CA) research on second language (L2) writing consultations has demonstrated how correction is accomplished through talk, embodied conduct, and the use of material resources. While previous studies have primarily examined grammatical correction and the treatment of written products, comparatively less attention has been paid to how participants negotiate intended meaning in relation to word choice. Addressing this gap, this study investigates how vocabulary-related problems are interactionally managed in one-on-one peer L2 writing consultations at a university. Focusing on a recurrent practice observed in a tutor’s consultations, the analysis examines meaning-targeting Wh-repair initiations (e.g., “What do you mean by…?”) and their accompanying embodied actions. Drawing on a multimodal CA approach, the study traces two recurrent trajectories: one in which tutees respond to the repair initiation, and another in which an absence of response leads the tutor to advance candidate understandings. The findings show that Wh-repair initiations function as pre-sequences to correction of texts by foregrounding tutees’ epistemic primacy over intended meaning and creating interactional space for elaboration, confirmation, or disagreement. Correction is recurrently oriented to as contingent on the establishment of intersubjective understanding and is collaboratively accomplished through coordinated verbal, embodied, and material actions. By demonstrating how word-choice problems are addressed through repair and textual correction as multimodal practices in L2 writing consultations, this study contributes to CA research on repair, correction, and epistemic work in pedagogical interaction.
Notes
